


so where do we begin? (the rubble or our sins)

by secretfeanorian



Series: the worst things in life come free to us [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Maglor likes messing with people a little bit, world finds out Maglor isn't human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretfeanorian/pseuds/secretfeanorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How does telling the world how much of an outcast you are make you feel like less of an outcast?</p>
            </blockquote>





	so where do we begin? (the rubble or our sins)

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the Author: My only experience with New York are on Long Island, not New York City, and those were a long time ago, so details are probably super off. Sorry.

_People often say that not all those who wander are lost, but the converse is also true: not all those who are lost wander._

* * *

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t take very long before people are pointing out the less human-like attributes that Maglor possesses. For the practically zero publicity that he gets, it is surprising how many of those attributes they have noticed and how much video footage they have to back up their claims.  
  
Maglor – almost against his own will – is impressed at the scale of the information they have collected. He’s also annoyed at himself for slipping up enough for them to gather it.  
  
It doesn’t come up on the news and in interviews (with the Avengers who ever do interviews) for a bit longer, but everything – especially something like this – is only a matter of time.  
  
The claims show up on the news before anywhere else. New anchors are talking about “there being another Avenger who might be an alien” and Maglor finds that slightly amusing. He’s not an alien, after all.  
  
It shows up next not in an interview so to speak, but during the standard post-saving-the-world-reporter-convergence that is pretty much the only time the public gets an extended look at Maglor. One of the reporters in one particular area shouts the question to Steve (not to Maglor since Maglor is sitting behind a pile of rubble and is as of yet still unseen by the five reporters in that exact location); “What do you say to the rumors claiming your newest teammate is an alien?”  
  
Steve looks at the reporters incredulously, and then snorts, seemingly without meaning to. The snort is followed by him saying “Macalaurë is not an alien.”  
  
“What about him not being human?” Another reporter asks, but before Steve gets the chance to respond, Maglor gives away his hiding place by shouting; “What proof backs up those rumors?  
  
The reporter splutters for a bit, but is unable to come up with any of the reasons off the top of her head. None of the other four reporters in that location have an answer either and so for that moment, the question has been successfully deflected. Someone, however, notes the unwillingness of either man to say that Maglor was human and so by the next time the Avengers have saved the world, the question being thrown around is not “What do you have to say to the rumors about your teammate being an alien?” but is instead “What do you have to say to the rumors about your teammate not being human?”  
  
That question is much harder to deflect without openly lying and the day ends with Maglor shouting “Quendi” as an answer and disappearing. Most people take that as confirmation, but some need further evidence. Those some eventually cause the longest “conversation” Maglor has ever had with the press and it basically just encompasses Maglor reporting “I am Quendi. Quendi does not equal human” in a bored, monotone voice in response to anything and everything the reporter asks.  
  
That gives birth to a group of people on the Internet that spend every minute (or so it seems) of their spare time searching for things related to “Quendi” (or, to what “Quendi” even means). As of yet, they haven’t found anything. Maglor is 98% sure that they will never find anything.  
  
(Humans are pretty damn resourceful and there may yet be [more] ruins left in the world that hint at the presence of elves long ago, so he doesn’t want to say he’s 100% sure)  
  
He doesn’t avoid the press any more than he did before, but any mention of the word “Quendi” or his not-being-human and he’ll be gone within the next few minutes.  
  
This disappearing trick annoys a lot of people. A website called “Tumblr” that Maglor had been warned to stay far away from, but didn’t (he **thinks** he knows why someone thought to warn him away, but he’s not sure. He hasn’t found anything that especially disturbs yet) is the most vocal with that annoyance, but they are hardly the only ones.  
  
Maglor is completely aware of how annoyed people are over the whole matter. He doesn’t really care. Secretly, he finds it amusing, but he hasn’t told anyone that. He doesn’t plan on doing so either. He also doesn’t plan on clarifying the meaning of “Quendi”. The press picks up on this fairly early on, but they don’t stop hounding him about it, and probably have no intentions of doing so.  
  
He’s told that he’s caused a great big scandal by a reporter and to that he replies with: “What if I’m just messing with you?” He isn’t and never was, but about half of the Internet becomes convinced that he was indeed, “messing with them”. The other half varies between uncertainly and “he’s messing with us by implying that he was previously messing with us”.  
  
The last group is the minority and Maglor silently commends them for their intelligence. Or bull-headed stubbornness. Whichever it is. It could be either. It’s probably both. Maglor doesn’t care. Under the correct circumstances, both are equality valuable.

* * *

He sneaks out into Central Park (which has gotten a lot more difficult to successfully pull off over the past while thanks to the sudden and obsessive media attention) one afternoon and finds himself talking to a group of people who recognized him. Before he leaves, he tells them “Quendi translates to ‘the ones who speak’ and my people were also called ‘elves’ in the common tongue.”  
  
That comment makes its way onto the news within the next 12 hours. Everything becomes simpler if you don’t involve the media in making comments until they involve themselves. Much less messy that way. Much less shouting. He tells that to a reporter indifferently and the reporters hovering around aren’t visibly amused by his comment, but Tony finds him later and pats him on the back.  
  
“You put it into words!” He sounds far too excited and Maglor should probably be nervous. (He isn’t, but he **is** pretty sure that Tony is drunk)  
  
“Still messy either way,” He says and Tony nods.  
  
“Obviously,” He says, pats Maglor on the back again and walks away.

* * *

Maglor ignores the press for quite a while after that and goes out of his way to stay out of their way. The reporters aren’t fazed and once they’ve been forced to give up on finding the elf for the day, they turn their attentions to the rest of the team and probe them for answers.  
  
Maglor threatens to disembowel anyone who gives the reporters the answers they’re looking for. He doesn’t have to, but he does anyway. The best thing about the world he lives in now is that no one (or, mostly no one) knows about his dark past and his blood-stained hands. He desperately wants to keep it that way.  
  
By the day after his threat, he feels guilty about giving it, but he doesn’t apologize. He has a feeling that they would all just wave him off and besides, it’s not like he’s had a startling revelation overnight and he wants the world to know everything about him. He simply feels guilty for implying that he doesn’t trust his teammates. He does, but the whole matter with people attempting to bring his past to light has made him edgy.  
  
He ends up revealing his tumblr to the world when he publishes a text post that, among a few other comments, includes the three sentences: “I have an unpleasant past filled with uncountable losses and hopeless wars. I left it behind a long time ago and I have no desire to revisit that pain. Is it too much to ask that I am allowed to keep my grief private and in the past where it can no longer hurt me?”  
  
His tumblr isn’t very active – it never has been and it’s not suddenly going to start being so now that the world knows who is behind it, but he accumulates a rather absurdly large following nonetheless. Tony complains that Maglor has more followers then he does, to which Maglor retorts with: “I’m a mystery. You’re not. Also, from what I’ve seen, tumblr is where most of the people trying to unearth me hang out.”  
  
“What are you, a corpse?” Tony snarks back and Maglor shakes his head.  
  
“I’m pretty much the only one who isn’t.” He says, but that’s not true. The only one on this side of the Sundering Sea, yes, but not in all of the world.  
  
He wanders off into New York City and finds himself alone in a small park somewhere in the city. He finds a patch of grass to lie on and he stares up at the sky. He feels out of place and he figures he always will. Yet, at this moment, it doesn’t matter as much to him. He knows he’ll go back to caring about it far too much, but for now, he doesn’t feel like so much of an outcast. It’s absurd – telling people how much of an outcast you are makes you less of an outcast, but maybe there’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s “tell people how much of an outcast you are and it makes you less self-aware and less bothered by how much of an outcast you are.”  
  
Or maybe there’s less to it than that. Maglor doesn’t know. Nor does he care.


End file.
